CIO.com - CRM

Analysis: Salesforce.com Sites Slices Cloud in New Ways

C.G. Lynch — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Salesforce.com announced the availability of Sites today, a service that allows businesses to host their websites using the SaaS company's massive datacenters. Sites will also allow companies to take Salesforce.com applications, as well as apps produced by third-party vendors on the companys Force.com platform, and make them available to customers on their publicly-facing websites.

Top 23 Technology Frustrations (for today anyway)

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 04:00:00 GMT

From Microsoft's best efforts at "innovation" to little"perks" of Apple's customer care, to spam and cloud computing, these everyday irritations can really set you off.

Why a Non-Profit Adopted SaaS CRM to Organize Donors in Fight Against Breast Cancer

C.G. Lynch — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Susan G. Komen for the Cure is adopting on-demand CRM from Convio, a SaaS vendor that works with non-profits to facilitate fundraising and organize volunteer efforts. One application, Common Ground, was built on Salesforce.com's Force.com platform.

The Future State of the CRM Market

Thomas Wailgum — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Tough economic times for North American enterprises will create uncertain, challenging environments for corporate CRM systems, according to an AMR Research report. Here's what you need to know about the CRM market and the vendors who will be left standing in 2012.

Report Ranks Top 10 CRM Vendors

Thomas Wailgum — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT

A new AMR Research report breaks down leading CRM vendors SAP, Oracle, Salesforce.com and others by 2007 revenues and software growth rates in the $14 billion market.

Open Source CRM Delivers More Control, Less Cost

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT

IT leaders who can get past the idea that open-source CRM software doesn't cost enough say they like the power and flexibility of owning their own code.

CRM Collaboration: Real Estate Firm Implements Zimbra For All Its Agents

C.G. Lynch — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT

The CIO of Zip Realty talks about embedding Zimbra on top of his homegrown CRM system, and how agents have been able to customize their email and calendars with Web 2.0 features such as tagging.

Five Best Practices for Implementing SaaS CRM

Thomas Wailgum — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Software-as-a-service CRM has gone mainstream, says Forrester Research. A new report identifies five key strategies and tactics, including building a business case and negotiating a good service contract, that companies have discovered and used to realize CRM SaaS success.

Retailers Are Winning by Focusing on Customer-Centric Systems -- Not Whining About the Economy

Thomas Wailgum — Fri, 09 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

April retail sales were better than expected, but economic doom-and-gloom is everywhere. A Retail Systems Research report shows why those retailers who think long-term about customer service technologies and employee-facing tools are winning now.

Inside Pitney Bowes Choice for a Mobile CRM/ERP Solution

Al Sacco — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Mail industry leader Pitney Bowes's service techs need constant information from corporate systems to keep customers up and running. Pitney's VP of CRM systems shares three key criteria he used in deciding how to bring CRM and ERP data to staffers' BlackBerry and Windows Mobile handsets.

Microsoft Launches On-Demand CRM Software into a Crowded Market

Thomas Wailgum — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Microsoft is trying to reinvent itself as an on-demand provider of software services. And with its Dynamics CRM Online product, it's going hard after well-established players like Salesforce.com, SAP and Oracle.

Text Analytics: Your Customers are Talking About You

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

When your customers talk, do you listen closely and quickly enough? More CIOs are deploying text analytics technology to examine customer comments on websites, surveys and the like.

Analysis: Salesforce's Addition of Google Apps Shows Google's Intent to Enter Business Software Market

C.G. Lynch — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

By tapping into Salesforce's customer base and latching on to that company's reputation as a trusted corporate technology provider, Google can make inroads in selling its software to businesses.

Your Customer Service Stinks

Thomas Wailgum — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 05:00:00 GMT

An Accenture survey finds that while consumers' customer service expectations continue to rise, the majority of companies aren't keeping pace, sending customers to competitors. And it's only getting easier for them to leave.

How To Do CRM Online: Three Big Ideas for 2008

Kim S. Nash — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Just as all politics is local, all business is now online. Even if you don't offer e-commerce, customers and critics will be talking about you online anyway. Heres how to cope.